Welcoming Tractor Supply Co. to Cheboygan

Comment

By Gary Lamberg

Sault Ste. Marie Evening News - Sault Ste. Marie, MI

By Gary Lamberg

Posted Nov. 17, 2013 at 10:00 AM

By Gary Lamberg

Posted Nov. 17, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Along with lots of deer hunters preparing for deer camp, I found myself in the Rudyard Co-op store this week. It was a madhouse of activity and optimism about the prospects of this year’s season. I love stores like the Rudyard Co-op, or its sister store in Kinross. Those operations are just what I remember of the Chatham Co-op years ago –a place to meet neighbors and catch up on community happenings, while taking care of business. In those years, a Saturday trip to the Co-op, a visit to Holmquist’s Feed Mill in Trenary, and a dump run to the township landfill would pretty much keep a person informed on any of the important stories of the day around the community.

I’m one of those guys who tends toward a zombie-like state while shopping in most retail box stores. You know how we are, a little absent-minded, with eyes out of focus and mumbling to ourselves when asked to join with our lifemates in shopping for clothes or household items.

Part of the problem is probably a limited interest in the articles being sought. Another factor is the mesmerizing lighting and canned music experienced in most box stores. But somehow the fugue state lifts when given the opportunity to shop at one chain of box stores – Tractor Supply Co. A new TSC store opened Saturday in Cheboygan promising to revitalize business activity on the east side of the Cheboygan River.

Like many other guys I struggle with clothes shopping and other necessary domestic pursuits. On the other hand a store like Tractor Supply Co. is right up my alley. The combination of equipment, tools, feed, hardware and farm supplies offers an interesting selection for someone pursuing the outdoors, hobby farming, wood heat and do it yourself projects. It’s the closest a nation-wide box store can come to those Saturday trips to the Co-op, feed mill and dump.

Sault Ste. Marie has a Tractor Supply Co., and now so does Cheboygan. That means I can get my TSC fix at either of the towns I spend most of my time in. Folks in Cheboygan have been excited to welcome Tractor Supply Co. for the better part of a year. The store will help anchor a shopping area that has had its challenges in recent years. And it will provide guys, like me, a place to shop that doesn’t put us in a mumbling trace-like state.

Please join me in welcoming Tractor Supply Co. to the community.

Gary Lamberg is the publisher of the Sault Evening News and other northern Michigan publications and web sites. He can be reached at glamberg@cheboygantribune.com.